


what happens when no one cares

by manonlemelon



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Funeral, Guilt, M/M, Starvation, theo lives in his truck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 15:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15318195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manonlemelon/pseuds/manonlemelon
Summary: What happens when a teenager is alone in the world, living in his car, helping but never being thanked for it. What happens when no one cares?





	what happens when no one cares

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry i have to write a report and that happened that is how much this thing is killing me. So blame it on my school.  
> Thanks to Sab for looking after my typos missingbwirds and grammar ♥️  
> Please feel free to point out any mistakes.

Scott was back from college for the weekend, visiting his mom and the rest of the pack that was still in Beacon Hills. Being back felt good, he had missed being this close to his betas, especially Liam. Him being his first bitten beta always made their bond special and being close always felt wonderful. Beacon Hills was at peace for once and Scott wasn’t worried that was why when his phone vibrated, signaling an incoming call, and the alpha saw the caller ID was the sheriff he couldn’t help but think that yes this had been too good to be true. Of course, the moment he was back something had to happen, peace and quiet wasn’t just for them. He accepted the call and as per the sheriff's request went to the preserve to meet him, to see for himself what had been found.

He had been expecting the worst, yet another body mutilated in supernatural ways, hunters who had lost against werewolves, anything really. But what he was met with was nothing he could have ever imagined. It wasn’t supernatural. It wasn’t a murder. It was just death in its most horribly tragic human form.

The sheriff was waiting for him at the entrance of the preserve, Scott could smell the uncertainty coming off of him and weirdly hope, like he hoped Scott had the answer to whatever had happened there.

“I’m sorry to bother you, I know you just got back and probably have plans with the rest of your pack and your mom, but Parrish found it and we really don’t know what to make of it.”

“It’s okay sheriff, I just hope it’s nothing too bad.”

“I don’t think it is, it’s just unusual. Come with me it’s a little deeper in the preserve.”

Scott followed the sheriff in silence for a few minutes until they reached a blue truck, Scott had seen it around, he knew exactly who it belonged to, the unmistakable bullet holes from an encounter with the hunters being a dead give away if he had any doubts. He wasn’t proud to admit it, but his first thought was that Theo had gone back to his old ways and ditched the truck because it contained evidence of whatever he had done that according to the smell would be a dead body. Now he hoped it would have been that.

“That’s Theo’s truck. What is it doing here?”

“Can Theo turn into a wolf?”

Scott could smell the concern emitting from the sheriff, it had him intrigued, why would the sheriff ask that?

“I don’t think so. Only evolved wolfs can fullshift, and Theo is just a chimera I don’t see how that could be possible.”

The smell of relief emitted immediately from the sheriff, assaulting Scott nose and making him wonder what was going on here even more than he already did.

“Oh good, for a moment I was worried it was him, don’t get me wrong I hate the kid but no kid should ever go through that. There is a dead wolf in the backseat. I don’t know how he got there, could you maybe take a look and see what you can find out? I just really don’t know what to make of it”

Okay a dead wolf in the backseat of a truck, of Theo’s truck more specifically was definitely weird. Supernatural weird, Scott understood now why the sheriff had asked him to come.

“Sure”

Scott went to open the door, the smell of the rotting corpse more powerful than ever, making him gag.

“It’s been there for a few days.”

This was the strangest sight Scott had seen in a while, a black wolf, looking thin as if it had been starving, laying under a blanket on the backseat of a truck. There was an empty water bottle that had clearly been reused a few too many times. Scott could see clothes he recognized as Theo’s near the seats, not even a duffel back in sight. There was a plastic bag containing what looked like a bottle of soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste which was almost empty. Whatever theory his mind was starting to form in his head couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. This was Theo. He had a house, fake parents, money from… Wait how would Theo have money? It’s not like the Dread Doctors were functioning human. And did he have fake parents still? Wouldn’t they have skipped town the moment the chimera had disappeared? He still would have had the house though. Wouldn’t he? Yes, that was it. Theo was in his house doing whatever it was that he did with his life. And had abandoned his truck because of the bullets holes. The rest could be explained too.

Yet a small voice inside his head couldn’t help but tell him that no Theo wasn’t okay at his home, that the evidence was right in front of him. Scott finally resolved himself to focus his sense of smell on the body, trying to find a whiff that wasn’t just death and decomposing corpse. All the got was the unmistakable scent of a wolf and something hidden, easy to look over. Coyote. Chimera. Theo.

No. This couldn’t be true. This wasn’t Theo. They would have noticed if the chimera lived in his truck, noticed him starving, noticed him. And would have asked for help, he had people car… No. He didn’t. None of them were friends with him. But there was no way anyone could fake being healthy while battling hunters and hunger. Theo clearly had money. He had driven his truck around that required gas and that meant money. His gaze turned to the fuel indicator, the needle sadly pointing toward the empty sign.

Realization and acceptance slowly dawned on Scott. This was real. This was Theo. And to think that a few minutes ago he didn’t even believe chimeras could fullshift. And now all there was left of one was a black wolf weakened by life. Maybe he had gotten sick, poisoned by something. Yes, that had to be it. He couldn’t have just died like this. They needed to take him to Deaton, so the veterinarian could examine him to tell them what happened. Distress and sadness couldn’t help but make its way in his heart. Someone he knew had died, someone he used to be friends with, someone that had helped them fight a fair share of times.

“Scott?”

“It’s him. It’s Theo. We need to get him to the clinic so that Deaton can tell use what he was poisoned with.”

Guilt immediately reached his nose, almost as strong as the smell emitting from the wolf’s corpse. Theo’s corpse.

“I don’t think he was poisoned son.”

“Chimeras might not be as strong as wolfs but they don’t just die like that. Something happened. We need to find out what. Hunters might be back. Deaton can look at the body and tell us what happened.”

Deep down Scott knew he was in denial, the distress clearly present in his voice and that was probably why the sheriff agreed with him, helping him carrying the body, in the blanket that was covering it, to the animal clinic. Scott remembered thinking that it was surprisingly light to carry, even with supernatural strength he would have thought that wolves were heavier.

Once they made it to the veterinarian and explained the situation to him, Deaton examined the dead body and delivered his professional opinion that didn’t allow any denial anymore. Scott had to face the truth.

“From what I can tell he was severely dehydrated and malnourished, he probably shifted because of the cold. I couldn’t tell for sure what killed him, especially considering the state of the body. My best guess is that either shifting had been too much or he was too weak from starving and the cold made his organism shut down. You should keep the body in the morgue until you decide what to do with it.”

This couldn’t be happening. Couldn’t be real. Theo didn’t just starve to death or froze to death. It couldn’t be true. They didn’t just let someone that helped them die like that. Someone had to care. But the truth was no one did. It stared at him in the form of a dead wolf. No matter what Theo had done to them, to the world in the past he didn’t deserve this. No one did. No one deserved to die alone, starving because they didn’t have a single person that cared enough to make sure he was still alive, still around after he saved them time and time again. But if Scott didn’t care, who would have? After all he had been the one that had partially forgiven the chimera the most, trusting him with Liam’s safety. And yet here he was, staring at what was left of the existence of Theo Raeken. The guilt submerged him. in He had never felt more unworthy of his true alpha status than in that moment.

 “Can you let my mom and Argent know? I have to tell Liam. And the others.”

“Of course.”

The guilt emitting from the sheriff was rivalling his own he could bet on it. No one ever wondered what Theo did when he wasn’t helping them. To be honest they just didn’t think of him period. No one had even thought about warning him that hunters were in town, they just had requested his help when he happened to be in the police station when shit went down. And kept asking for it afterwards or letting him offer opinions until the war was over. No one had even bothered to ask why he had been at the station that day, they just presumed he had been brought in for whatever illegal thing he had been doing at the time.

This wasn’t the first time Scott had witnessed death. It was the first time thought that he had witnessed someone his age died of a non-supernatural death. Something that never should have happened. And he had to tell Liam. He knew that Theo and him had somehow bonded during the war, he deserved to know before anyone else. And Scott had a feeling that Theo would have wanted Liam to know. He just didn’t know how. What could he possibly say that would make it okay? Hi Liam, remember Theo? You know the guy that helped us and we never even thanked him for that? Well he is dead because he was living in his truck and didn’t have any money. He basically starved to death because no one ever cared enough to even find out where and how he was living. Have a nice rest of the day gotta go tell everyone else. Surely that wasn’t the way.

Scott took a deep breath, gathered the courage he didn’t felt like he had, and pressed the doorbell. A few moments later the door opened.

“Hi Jenna, is Liam here?”

“Scott! It’s nice to see you! He is upstairs playing video games. Please come in.”

 

* * *

 

 

Liam was too absorbed in killing the zombies attacking him to notice the approaching heartbeat and was startled when he heard a knock on his door. He stared at the figure in the doorframe a smile appearing on his face, the controller dropped on his bed, long forgotten as he got up to greet the older boy. He had missed his alpha.

“Scott! I thought we were only meeting up tomorrow!”

“Hi, yes but something came up. We need to talk.”

Only in that moment Liam paid attention to the chemosignals emitting from the older boy, guilt and sadness, his face reflecting the latter.

“What’s wrong?”

The alpha said nothing, going to sit on the bed and gesturing for the beta to join him.

“Something happened, and you need to know about it. I don’t know how to say this. I just… Theo’s dead.”

Liam couldn’t help the laugh that comes out of his mouth. Theo. Dead. Yeah sure and Santa was real. The chimera was unkillable, they had tried.

“What to you mean dead?”

“We found his truck in the preserve. There was a dead wolf in it.”

It all made sense suddenly, Scott wasn’t saying Theo was dead, he was saying Theo is about to be dead because they had to go after him, well they won’t kill him for sure, it’s not how they do things. But they could always find a way to piece the sword back together, the pieces still lying in a box in Liam’s desk. And then they will just send him back to his sister.

“You want to go after Theo because he killed a wolf and left it in his truck? Why would he kill a wolf?”

Deep down Liam understood what Scott was saying, but just like his alpha he was in denial until he was faced with the full facts.

“Theo is. Was. The wolf.”

“No. That’s… No.”

Scott stayed silent, giving the beta time to process. This couldn’t be true, Liam needed Theo, he was the one that anchored him when things go bad, the one that saved him what was he supposed to do if he was gone? How could he fight? With whom was he supposed to pull completely badass and out of this world in sync fight move straight out of Mr & Mrs Smith against hunters? Hunters.

“Are the hunters back? They killed him, didn’t they?”

“No. Liam listen, you need to know that. It won’t be easy to hear but you need to know how he died. I’m sorry. Theo was living in his truck, and we don’t know for sure but he didn’t have any money or anything really. Parrish found him. Deaton said he was malnourished and dehydrated, that he most likely shifted because of the cold and he might have been too weak, the shift took too much. Or he just…”

“Starved to death? Are you telling me that Theo died alone, slowly becoming more and more weak by the second because none of us ever took a minute to think about him, wondered where he lived when there was no one trying to kill us?”

“… Yes”

Liam thought he knew grief, knew guilt for being too late, for not be able to save someone when Brett and Lori died. That had been nothing compared to what he was feeling now. Tears welled up in his eyes and started to stream down his face, he could see them forming in his alpha’s eyes as well. Theo was dead because none of them cared. He had just lost his anchor. Did he even deserve the right to call Theo his anchor when he never even reached out to him?  And it was on him. More than on anyone else. He was the one who brought him back. Noshiko told him back then, Theo was his responsibility. He never really thought as more than making sure the chimera didn’t murder anyone. But it was, he brought him back to a world where he had nothing and never even bothered to help him live in it when it had been his responsibility. He took Theo for granted, someone to call when everything went to shit. Never realizing that he was responsible for more than just preventing him to kill anyone. He brought him back, he was responsible for keeping him alive as well, the moment he had broken the sword, the moment it was certain that Theo wouldn’t go back there.

“It’s my fault Scott, he was my responsibility.”

“It’s on all of us Liam.”

“I was responsible for him. I should have known. I should have cared. But I didn’t and now he is dead.”

Guilt. Shame. Theo used to say you could only feel on emotion at the time and yet here Liam was not knowing which was the more powerful. He was responsible for Theo. Had been. Not anymore. He never thought that it was more than just checking Theo wasn’t killing anyone. But it was, he had brought someone back, someone who didn’t have anything and didn’t think twice about it. The truth was yes Liam should have asked. Not just because he cared but because logically it would make sense to know where one of their allies lives, but he didn’t because he didn’t cared, didn’t bother wondering what Theo did in his free time as long as no body showed up. Theo could have actually been out there killing people and covering his tracks and the beta would have never known. He knows that didn’t happen, he could see that Theo had changed, was trying to be better, helping whenever he was needed and disappearing in the shadows when it was over only reappearing for the next crisis.

No one ever cared about Theo after Liam had brought him back. Not Scott, the forgiving true alpha that cared about anyone else, not the rest of the pack who hated the boy that had betrayed them with no regards for his helpful actions, not the authorities that chased the boy night after night when he was just trying to sleep in his truck, not whoever Theo was living with before he had been sent in the ground, not Corey who wouldn’t be alive without the older chimera, not Mason who saw Theo take pain, knew the chimera cared, not any of the adults that  deep down knew he was just a lost teenager. And certainly not Liam. The one that should have. Not only because Theo was his responsibility but because the older boy saved him over and over again when he didn’t have to, anchored him. He didn’t just made sure Liam would come out of whatever they were facing alive, he made sure Liam wouldn’t regret any actions taken in the midst of a fight, controlled by anger. Theo had protected him in more ways than one. And Liam never even cared enough to thank him. Let alone wondered where he lived, what he did when he wasn’t around. Out of sight out of mind really was true. Liam should have cared. He really should have. But he didn’t and now Theo was dead. He died alone, cold and starving in a truck full of bullet holes.

Liam might have not physically killed Theo, but he was responsible for his death all the same. His eyes might still shine bright gold, but he was still responsible for the death of an innocent man. Theo might not have been and innocent, not with everything he did but he still was with this. And his eyes might lie but Liam knew and would carry that guilt with him forever.

Scott hugged him while they both cried for the boy they failed, trying to comfort each other even if both of them knew they didn’t deserve it.

 

* * *

 

 

Melissa considered herself to be a good person, always here to help and willing to forgive. This is whom Scott got his optimism and ability to forgive from. And yet here she was, sitting in her kitchen with Chris and the sheriff, none of them knowing what to say at the news he had brought. He had been just a kid, okay he tried to kill, and succeeded in some cases, most members of the pack but lately they all knew he had been trying. Ever since he had gotten back everyone could tell Theo had changed and yet no one even reached out, no one ever wondered about the kid with no parents.

Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Liam, every single one of them were just kids, it wasn’t their job to worry that everyone has a roof over their head. But them. The adults. They knew the boy didn’t have anyone and yet none of them ever wondered how he survived. Now that they knew, now that they couldn’t ignore it anymore, Melissa couldn’t help but wonder how he even had survived this long. She remembered after the war, they had a celebratory barbecue, everyone was alive, happy and gorging on food. That would have been the one time the teenager could have gotten his first decent meal in god knows how long if anyone had thought to invite him.

“We should have known, we should have noticed. How come none of us noticed?”

Tears started to well up in her eyes, this was on them. There was no lie they could tell themselves. They couldn’t have cared less about Theo Raeken and now he was dead.

“He was just a kid. A kid that got manipulated in doing evil things since he was 8. But still a kid. How could we let this happen? How come no one ever wondered where and how he lived? How did we miss this?”

“I asked my deputies about a blue truck, they told me they had been chasing the teenager sleeping in it around town for months now and just figured he had finally understood he wasn’t welcome here and skipped town. We were lucky Parrish goes to check out the preserve regularly now or we might have not found him until the next supernatural disaster.”

They had sent a kid in the ground, letting him go through god knows what without a second thought, and when he had been freed because they needed him, they didn’t even spare him a second glance the minute his help wasn’t necessary anymore. This wasn’t just another kid dying way too soon at the hand of the supernatural. This was what could have been a very easily avoidable death. If just someone had cared about the lost boy who didn’t have anyone. They all knew he had beenalone they just never cared and now they were faced with a guilty conscience, a dead teenager and blood on their hands. Sure no one actively killed the kid, but they just all idly stood by as he was slowly perishing. Which in a way made it worse. Hell, the sheriff department chased the kid out of every corner of Beacon Hills he had tried to sleep in, making sure to make his life even harder.

There was nothing else to say, they all shared the same guilt, as parents. They failed the one that had none. So they just stayed there in silence mostly, sometimes exchanging a few words, wishing they could change the past and letting tears fall for the lost kid that died, alone and unloved.

 

* * *

 

 

A day later Scott was back at Liam’s announcing him they had to do something with the body and will bury him in the woods in the late afternoon.

“So that’s it we’re just going to bury a dead wolf in the wood and forget Theo ever existed?”

There has to be more, something they could do, this couldn’t just be how it all ended. Theo might have been an asshole but even he deserved more.

“What else can we do? It’s not like we can give him a proper funeral.”

It’s no like anyone cares. Not like anyone will miss him, will want to visit his grave. Liam knew none of them would anyway, why would they? To be reminded of their guilt? Their failure? They didn’t fail to save a kid from being killed by a monster, they failed to save a kid from starving to death. This wasn’t related to any of the craziness that comes with Beacon Hills. This was all of them having failed as basic decent human being. They couldn’t blame anyone but themselves. At least they all shared the same guilt and had each other. They all understood perfectly what the whole pack was going through, even if no one really talked about it, what was there to say? They all knew and supported each other through this. Unlike Theo, who had no one, who never truly did since the moment he had let his sister die.

“I know. It just feels so… He deserves more than this. We owe him.”

“I know Liam. I know. We will buy flowers and dress up but there is not much we can do. Nothing is going to change what happened.”

Liam knew Scott was right. He just wished he could do more. But none of them even really knew Theo, they wouldn’t even know what to do to honor him.

“Lilies. That’s the flower he left at the bridge for his sister. We should get lilies. They were white.”

The beta didn’t know why he remembered that in that moment, but it was better than nothing, better than anyone else had done. At the least he was trying, even if it was just the type of flower that would rest on the ground over his body it was something.

“I’ll get some, I’ll come back later to pick you up.”

And with that Scott was gone, Liam was left alone staring at his closet wondering what to wear at the funeral of a guy you killed. It didn’t really feel appropriate to walk in the preserve in a suit. In the end he still went for the suit, if Theo wasn’t even getting a proper funeral, in a graveyard with a tombstone containing a nice inscription and a birthday date no one even remembered, the least he could do was dress up.

Liam was surprised that when the time came it wasn’t just him and Scott putting the chimera in the ground for the final time. Apparently when a teenager died of a non-supernatural death that could have easily been avoided it made people feel guilty enough to show up for the funeral of a boy they hated. Even Stiles had managed to come back from the FBI.

Everyone was silent, standing there, they all had dressed up. Scott had dug the hole in the afternoon, all that was left to do was lower the body in it. The only thing Liam could smell was the guilt, everyone was reeking from it, it was suffocating, the humans didn’t realize and the supernaturals didn’t say a word, after all they all knew they deserved to suffer through this.

No one knew what to do. How could they? There was no words that would make them feel better, that would change anything and it’s not like any one them wanted to listen to anyone talking about how it was their fault. They weren’t here because they cared. They were here because they felt responsible, rightfully so and thought this was their punishment. Watching the boy that died being abandoned in a shallow grave, a fate they hoped they would never end up with. Not a single one of them would miss the chimera. Not a single one of them had anything nice to say about him.

The worst part was that none of them could say Theo was in a better place. They knew better. Theo Raeken. Murderer. Betrayer. Monster. Even if he had changed since they brought him back it wouldn’t be enough, maybe if he had had more time he would have been able to make up for his sins. Saving them a hand full of time wouldn’t make a difference, not with what he did to the pack when he had come back to Beacon Hills, to his sister when he had been 8, and everything in between in the name of the Dread Doctors. The chimera wasn’t at peace. He never will be now. His life had been a tragedy just as much as his death was. Theo Raeken just disappeared from the world without a trace left of his existence except for an unmarked grave in the preserve and a broken truck.

Liam realized in That moment he was the only one would will miss Theo despite not being any better than the rest of them, he at least thought of the chimera from time to time and he would forever miss the way Theo was able to calm him down like no one else, having figured out that what brought the beta back to reality wasn’t thinking about how he didn’t want to do whatever it was that he was about to do. It was being faced with the consequences, realizing what would happen. He would never forget when Theo prevented him from ripping Gabe to shreds by telling him what they would have to do to hide the murder. Not him, they. Theo had been willing to cover up a murder for him. He realized he was the only one that wasn’t just crying because of his guilt. The only one holding flowers. The white lilies he asked Scott to get.

When everyone had enough of the silent and the guilt, the awkwardness, Argent and Scott grabbed Theo’s body softly, he was wrapped up in what Liam assumed was the blanket the chimera had been using if you could even call it that. It was so thin you could almost see through it. They lowered the body into the hole as carefully and as far as they could before they dropped it, the thump it made when it hit the ground will haunt Liam forever. The beta looked at his left, seeing Mason and Corey holding onto each other. He suddenly remembered Theo’s look in the elevator, before they took the hunters on, when they said they wouldn’t die for each other. When Theo was so alive it hurts. For the briefest moment he thought the chimera was about to kiss him, he wanted him to as weird as it was, wanted to kiss him. But as quickly as it happened the moment had faded away, only to be forgotten until now, replaced by gunshots and fighting moves, bullet holes and pain being taken. In another life maybe, him and Theo could have been like them.

The sound of a shovel digging in a pile of dirt brought him back to reality. They were about to cover the grave up, if you could even call it that, and no one had said a word. It dawned on Liam that no one would. Theo deserved to have at least someone saying something anything. They were just going to bury a body and pretend it never happened not a word said out loud. Liam couldn’t let that happen. He owned it to the boy he failed. Liam advanced toward the hole, making Scott and Argent stop dead in their tracks as they looked at him.

“I’m sorry I never cared enough to worry about you. I know you did. Thank you for always saving me especially from myself.”

Liam took two flowers out of the bouquet, he dropped one on Theo’s body. After the grave had been filled he left the bouquet on the dirt and stood there, tears silently streaming down his face while almost everyone else left until the only one remaining were Scott, Mason, Corey and him. They stayed like this for a while, standing in front of the spot where they buried the wolf in silence, nothing had changed, they still didn’t know what to say. Liam was holding the last lily in his hand. He remembered telling them to go that he would be fine, Mason and Corey protested saying they couldn’t just leave him like that. Scott told him he wasn’t about to leave him clearly distraught, alone in the preserve. He did convince Mason and Corey to go though, telling them he would stay with him until Liam was ready. Both of them hugged him before leaving, Mason promising he will be there when he would be ready.

Scott instinctively knew why Liam still had the last flower. He just stood by him asking him if it was for Tara, to which Liam just nodded. It was something he had seen Theo do before, it might have been a show back then, but Liam knew the grief he had smelled on the chimera back then was real. It was the only thing he could think of that made sense. The one thing he could do for the chimera. Doing what he saw him do. When he was finally ready, Scott took him to the bridge. Ironically the night had fallen and there he was once again, seeing a white lily drop in the water in the darkness of the night where a young girl had lost her life. Except this time, it was him dropping the lily, for the boy he maybe could have learned to love. Scott stood by him, never saying a word and when Liam was finally ready to let go he hugged him and they left, the lily long gone, carried away by the currents. This could have been the last time such an action took place but each year, Liam came back, dropping two lilies in the water one for the girl that was murdered so that a little boy could be turned into a monster, and one for the boy who tried to not be one, whose grave was long forgotten, lost in the middles of the trees.

 

* * *

 

 

The sheriff wasn’t expecting Liam Dunbar to walk in the station the day after they had buried the chimera, asking if he could have his truck. He gave it to him, helped him sort the paperwork out. It wasn’t like anyone else would claim it. He figured this was all that was left of the boy no one ever gave a second glance to and Liam just wanted whatever he could to remember him by.

All there was left of Theo Raeken was a blue truck driven by a boy with eyes to match it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading I hope you're okay because i cried my way through writing this.


End file.
